Thoughts on books, reading and publishing from the staff and friends of the Tattered Cover Book Store.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

"The story unfolds with a surprise around every corner, and I truly couldn't put it down." ~Heather

It is the year 2059. Several major world
cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige
Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a
secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual:
scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a
dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants
commit treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more
sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford,
erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful,
otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants
highly—as soldiers in their army.
Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge
of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if
she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of
his mind and his own mysterious motives.

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine—a young woman
learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been
taken from her. It also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with
huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a
bold new reality in this riveting debut.

"In
preparation for an author dinner at a recent booksellers conference,
Bloomsbury publishing sent me the first two chapters of The Bone Season,
as well as samples of four other new books. I enjoyed all of the
samples, but particularly loved the taste of The Bone Season and
couldn't wait to get my hands on the entire book. At the dinner, I had
the pleasure of sitting next to Samantha Shannon. As it happened, she'd
been in a minor car accident that morning with her publicist, and had a
bit of whip-lash. She immediately apologized to the bookseller on her
left for the fact that she couldn't turn her head in that direction.
Then she turned and talked to me for the rest of the evening! I have met
many a first-time author in my days as a bookseller, but few as
interesting and enjoyable as Samantha. She grew up in West London,
studies English Literature at Oxford, and is fascinated by Americans. The
Bone Season is (amazingly) her first book – the first in a series of
seven books. It has been sold in eighteen countries and the film rights
have been picked up by Andy Serkis's (the actor who plays Golum) film
company!

The story of The Bone Season is set in alternative
history London in the year 2059. London, as well as other major cities of
the world, is controlled by Scion, a security force in place to keep the
“normal” citizens safe from clairvoyants – soothsayers, mediums,
augurs, furies, and others. Paige Mahoney is a unique “voyant,” and when
she runs into trouble with Scion, she discovers there is much more to
her world than she ever imagined. The world-building in this book is
astonishing, the characters genuine, the action breathless. The story
unfolds with a surprise around every corner, and I truly couldn't put it
down."